The Real War “I could use all of you for this task. It could take weeks, months, even years to finish, but with my resources, the result will be a free Rivertown, a free Wisconsin. What do you all say to that?” The Detective was sitting at his glossy, mahogany desk. He was leaning forward only slightly, staring our group down. What the hell was his angle? What would he get from this? Besides being Percy’s father, the one part of our meeting that’s roused a great deal of amusement from me, he had been eyeing Audra this entire time, which didn’t sit right with me. Percy was the first to respond. “You can count me in father; this is as much my fight as it is yours.” So this was it? This had been his cause all along? It was hard to take in that a man with a severe lack of moral standards would care about restoring a country to its former glory. He had been so quick to run his mouth about me living in the past but what the hell did he and others know about me? They knew about my wife and my daughter, and while I didn’t give them the details, I wouldn’t expect them to understand my feelings, and the suffering I went through. Just like I probably can’t empathize with Audra, I was never an orphan; my parents lived pretty long, as far as most lucky people do in this day and age. “I’m in if you’re in ‘Percy’,” Bees had spoken and her response far from surprised me. She was a flake, a shirker; all she ever cared about was being where the most interesting things were happening. This was something new and exciting, plus there was “Ray”, Percy, whatever his name was, who held some kind of emotional attachment to her, and vice versa. Ironic that an hour or two ago he was pointing guns at the rest of us; the dick. Even at this moment I probably wouldn’t have regretted killing him if I had had to, the guy was never entirely right in the head. Audra looked up at me for a second, I didn’t look back but I knew what she was going to choose. I would be right. “Here is better than anywhere else at the moment, I guess I’ll stick around,” she spoke with some indifference, but, boy; how wrong she was. I guess that was the benefit of having a lot of friends who are pilots, I’ve been so many places, met so many people, seen so many beautiful places in comparison to the concrete wastelands of the States. I suppose it can’t be helped though. Their ignorance of the outside world is something that’s shared among the masses in this day and age. The kind of traveling I’ve done only happens through having connections, lots of them. The Detective spoke again. “We’ll have to ‘celebrate’ your joining this evening; we’ve got a long job ahead of us. What say you mister…” “Carlisle, it’s Roen Carlisle,” I said, a little annoyed that I was the last one he addressed out of the rest of us. If there was anyone who needed the most convincing to stick around, it was me, and after all that’s happened, there was no chance of me staying here. All four of them were watching me now, Audra’s expression was hopeful, Bees was, like always, indifferent, and Percy, Percy looked skeptical. I knew what response would bait him, I wanted him to spit out one last cascade of asinine comments before I really made my decision. I went ahead with it. “I’m not staying, I appreciate the offer, but this isn’t where I belong, it never will be.” My responses were met my immediate protests from Audra and Bees, but what I was waiting for was Percy to run his mouth, one last damn time. “What’s your problem,” he had taken the bait, “are you always going to be a deserter? You lost your wife and your kid, that’s rough, I get it, but it’s bullshit that you can turn you back on a cause like this. You know what? Just go, you so damn path-.” “You really don’t know anything about me, and don’t ever pretend that you do, Percy,” I put extra emphasis on that last word. The room fell silent as I briefly pinched my forehead, groaning a bit from a headache I was now developing. One more thing I can blame Percy for, I thought. I turned to his father, “I feel for your cause…Misteeerrrr…nevermind, I don’t really care about your real name right now, but what you’re planning is absolute suicide. You can’t accomplish what you’re daydreaming in that dyed head of hair of yours without an army, people with combat experience. No offense to Audra and Bees here, but they aren’t war material. Sure, you can train them to be, that’s what I hope you plan on doing, but you just, need, more.” My little ruse was met by an exhausted sigh from the Detective. He smiled and addressed me with a bit more respect than before. “You’re right Mister Carlisle, but I feel like you had something more to say, a suggestion perhaps?” There was Denise again, in my head, she was smiling, telling me to ‘live’ again, and this time I knew what I wanted to do. It had been so long since I was this sure about something. I spoke. “I’m going to go for a while. Pay some of my friends around the world a visit. Some of them owe me favors; some of them will help me willingly no matter what. I’ll bring you an army, and then you can purge Rivertown of their cults, and extremists. You’ll have a few years to prepare so I’d advise you gather your resources, get any and all intel on your enemies, and be ready for my return. I’ve already told you all I don’t belong here, and that is true, but I won’t leave you all to die on some sort of martyrdom, suicide mission. I’ll be back, I promise.” Audra teared up a bit as she came in for a hug, which I was obliged to give. Rabies only met me with a “fistpound”, and Percy, well we just nodded at each other. The Detective held something out for me to carry. I grabbed hold of the object, feeling the smooth canvas between my fingers, it was wrapped around a central pole. It was an umbrella. I finally let go of Audra, thanking The Detective for his gift, turned, and walked through the first exit into the cinema where the old cartoon reel was still running. I continued all the way to the exit, not stopping for a second, not letting a single thought try to pull me back. I pushed through the main double doors and into the rainy, later afternoon sky. I started for Barrett Station just a few blocks northwest, thinking about everything I’d have to do before returning. The umbrella was keeping me dry; keeping me safe. As I reached the train station entrance I took one last look northward. A massive plume of smoke rose in the distance, too far to be within the proximity of where the Keepers and Curators would be blowing each other up. Someone must have detonated an entire building or something I thought, trying to think of what might have happened up there. I turned away and entered the station. I purchased a single ticket, and told the manager that if anyone came by asking where I went, to tell them I was headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania first, and from there, the Republic of South Africa. I couldn’t help but grin at my final thought before stepping on the train that would take me to Chicago and then from there, to the O’Hare airport. I was thinking about how much I looked forward to coming back, and harassing Percy about his name some more.
The Real War
“I could use all of you for this task. It could take weeks, months, even years to finish, but with my resources, the result will be a free Rivertown, a free Wisconsin. What do you all say to that?” The Detective was sitting at his glossy, mahogany desk. He was leaning forward only slightly, staring our group down. What the hell was his angle? What would he get from this? Besides being Percy’s father, the one part of our meeting that’s roused a great deal of amusement from me, he had been eyeing Audra this entire time, which didn’t sit right with me.
Percy was the first to respond. “You can count me in father; this is as much my fight as it is yours.” So this was it? This had been his cause all along? It was hard to take in that a man with a severe lack of moral standards would care about restoring a country to its former glory. He had been so quick to run his mouth about me living in the past but what the hell did he and others know about me? They knew about my wife and my daughter, and while I didn’t give them the details, I wouldn’t expect them to understand my feelings, and the suffering I went through. Just like I probably can’t empathize with Audra, I was never an orphan; my parents lived pretty long, as far as most lucky people do in this day and age.
“I’m in if you’re in ‘Percy’,” Bees had spoken and her response far from surprised me. She was a flake, a shirker; all she ever cared about was being where the most interesting things were happening. This was something new and exciting, plus there was “Ray”, Percy, whatever his name was, who held some kind of emotional attachment to her, and vice versa. Ironic that an hour or two ago he was pointing guns at the rest of us; the dick. Even at this moment I probably wouldn’t have regretted killing him if I had had to, the guy was never entirely right in the head.
Audra looked up at me for a second, I didn’t look back but I knew what she was going to choose. I would be right.
“Here is better than anywhere else at the moment, I guess I’ll stick around,” she spoke with some indifference, but, boy; how wrong she was. I guess that was the benefit of having a lot of friends who are pilots, I’ve been so many places, met so many people, seen so many beautiful places in comparison to the concrete wastelands of the States. I suppose it can’t be helped though. Their ignorance of the outside world is something that’s shared among the masses in this day and age. The kind of traveling I’ve done only happens through having connections, lots of them.
The Detective spoke again. “We’ll have to ‘celebrate’ your joining this evening; we’ve got a long job ahead of us. What say you mister…”
“Carlisle, it’s Roen Carlisle,” I said, a little annoyed that I was the last one he addressed out of the rest of us. If there was anyone who needed the most convincing to stick around, it was me, and after all that’s happened, there was no chance of me staying here. All four of them were watching me now, Audra’s expression was hopeful, Bees was, like always, indifferent, and Percy, Percy looked skeptical. I knew what response would bait him, I wanted him to spit out one last cascade of asinine comments before I really made my decision.
I went ahead with it. “I’m not staying, I appreciate the offer, but this isn’t where I belong, it never will be.” My responses were met my immediate protests from Audra and Bees, but what I was waiting for was Percy to run his mouth, one last damn time.
“What’s your problem,” he had taken the bait, “are you always going to be a deserter? You lost your wife and your kid, that’s rough, I get it, but it’s bullshit that you can turn you back on a cause like this. You know what? Just go, you so damn path-.”
“You really don’t know anything about me, and don’t ever pretend that you do, Percy,” I put extra emphasis on that last word. The room fell silent as I briefly pinched my forehead, groaning a bit from a headache I was now developing. One more thing I can blame Percy for, I thought. I turned to his father, “I feel for your cause…Misteeerrrr…nevermind, I don’t really care about your real name right now, but what you’re planning is absolute suicide. You can’t accomplish what you’re daydreaming in that dyed head of hair of yours without an army, people with combat experience. No offense to Audra and Bees here, but they aren’t war material. Sure, you can train them to be, that’s what I hope you plan on doing, but you just, need, more.” My little ruse was met by an exhausted sigh from the Detective.
He smiled and addressed me with a bit more respect than before. “You’re right Mister Carlisle, but I feel like you had something more to say, a suggestion perhaps?”
There was Denise again, in my head, she was smiling, telling me to ‘live’ again, and this time I knew what I wanted to do. It had been so long since I was this sure about something.
I spoke. “I’m going to go for a while. Pay some of my friends around the world a visit. Some of them owe me favors; some of them will help me willingly no matter what. I’ll bring you an army, and then you can purge Rivertown of their cults, and extremists. You’ll have a few years to prepare so I’d advise you gather your resources, get any and all intel on your enemies, and be ready for my return. I’ve already told you all I don’t belong here, and that is true, but I won’t leave you all to die on some sort of martyrdom, suicide mission. I’ll be back, I promise.” Audra teared up a bit as she came in for a hug, which I was obliged to give. Rabies only met me with a “fistpound”, and Percy, well we just nodded at each other. The Detective held something out for me to carry. I grabbed hold of the object, feeling the smooth canvas between my fingers, it was wrapped around a central pole. It was an umbrella. I finally let go of Audra, thanking The Detective for his gift, turned, and walked through the first exit into the cinema where the old cartoon reel was still running. I continued all the way to the exit, not stopping for a second, not letting a single thought try to pull me back. I pushed through the main double doors and into the rainy, later afternoon sky. I started for Barrett Station just a few blocks northwest, thinking about everything I’d have to do before returning. The umbrella was keeping me dry; keeping me safe.
As I reached the train station entrance I took one last look northward. A massive plume of smoke rose in the distance, too far to be within the proximity of where the Keepers and Curators would be blowing each other up. Someone must have detonated an entire building or something I thought, trying to think of what might have happened up there. I turned away and entered the station. I purchased a single ticket, and told the manager that if anyone came by asking where I went, to tell them I was headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania first, and from there, the Republic of South Africa.
I couldn’t help but grin at my final thought before stepping on the train that would take me to Chicago and then from there, to the O’Hare airport. I was thinking about how much I looked forward to coming back, and harassing Percy about his name some more.